Methods of detecting ovarian cancer
AssigneesWisconsin Alumni Research Foudation, Wake Forest University Health Sciences
InventorsHalcyon Gerald Skinner, Gary G. Schwartz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of screening human female subject for a risk of ovarian cancer are described. High levels of calcium in serum are shown to be significantly positively associated with the risk of ovarian cancer and can advantageously be used to triage women into risk categories for more intensive testing. Also included are preoperative methods of determining if an adnexal mass is likely to be malignant or benign.
Claims21
A preoperative method of determining a greater likelihood that an adnexal mass in a female subject is malignant or benign, comprising
- providing a blood sample collected from the subject;
- determining a total serum calcium level and a serum albumin level in the blood sample;
- comparing the total serum calcium level and the serum albumin level of the blood sample to a predictive model that includes total serum calcium and serum albumin levels for a population;
- and
- determining that the adnexal mass is likely to be malignant when the total serum calcium level in the blood sample is high normocalcemic to hypercalcemic or deviates upward from normal based on the predictive model, or determining that the adnexal mass is likely to be benign when total serum calcium level in the blood sample is normocalcemic or lower, is normal based on the predictive model or deviates downward from normal based on the predictive model.
A preoperative method of determining if an adnexal mass in a female subject is likely to be malignant or likely to be benign, comprising
- providing a blood sample collected from the subject;
- determining a total serum calcium level and an albumin level in the blood sample, and calculating an albumin-corrected calcium level of the blood sample from the subject, or determining the ionized serum calcium level of the blood sample from the subject;
- comparing the albumin-corrected calcium level of the blood sample from the subject to a predictive model that includes albumin-corrected calcium levels for a population, or comparing the ionized serum calcium level of the blood sample from the subject to a predictive model that includes ionized serum calcium levels for a population;
- and
- determining that the adnexal mass is malignant when the albumin-corrected calcium level in the blood sample is high normocalcemic to hypercalcemic or deviates upward from normal based on the predictive model, determining that the adnexal mass is benign when the albumin-corrected calcium level in the blood sample is normocalcemic or lower, is normal based on the predictive model or deviates downward from normal based on the predictive model, determining that the adnexal mass is likely to be malignant when the ionized serum calcium level in the blood sample is high normocalcemic to hypercalcemic or deviates upward from normal based on the predictive model, or determining that the adnexal mass is likely to be benign when the ionized serum calcium level in the blood sample is normocalcemic or lower, is normal based on the predictive model or deviates downward from normal based on the predictive model.
A method of screening for an increased risk of ovarian cancer in a human female subject, comprising
- providing a blood sample collected from the subject;
- determining a level of total or ionized serum calcium in the blood sample;
- and
- determining that the subject has an increased risk of ovarian cancer when the level of total or ionized serum calcium in the blood sample is in the upper tertile compared to a normal distribution,
- wherein the subject is experiencing one or more symptoms of ovarian cancer and/or wherein the subject has a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.
A method of screening for an increased risk of ovarian cancer in a human female subject, comprising
- providing a first blood sample and a second blood sample collected from the subject, wherein the first and second blood samples are taken at a first time interval;
- determining a level of total or ionized serum calcium in the first and second blood samples;
- and
- determining that the subject has an increased risk of ovarian cancer when the level of total or ionized serum calcium in the second blood sample is increased compared to the first blood sample, and the increase in total or ionized serum calcium is not accompanied by an increase in serum parathyroid hormone, and/or is accompanied by a detectable level of parathyroid-hormone-related peptide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.